Beyond the Schoolhouse Gate: Do Student First Amendment Rights Apply to Classroom Assignments?

While it has long been apparent that the First Amendment protection for freedom of expression limits the discretion of public school teachers and administrators, it has been assumed that those limitations do not constrain equally all aspects of a school\u27s operation. One area that has seemed somewhat immune from First Amendment free speech oversight has been the pedagogic choices made by schools in defining their own educational objectives. Public schools have been permitted to select curricular materials for use in their classrooms and have been able to evaluate whether students have fulfilled course requirements without concern that they may be violating the free speech rights of their students. The cases discussed raise issues about the possibility of First Amendment review of school assignments that schools will ignore at their peril